Home-made Sheep's Foot Roller Ideas?

[dmccarty]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

RanchMan,

Have you thought of just running a truck over the roads? Over and Over
again.

I'm getting ready to put gravel down for our driveway. The first part is
500 feet long. I need a way to compact the gravel and the best idea
I have so far is to run my truck up and down the drive. My truck
weighs in at 7,700 pounds with a full load of fuel. Its GVW is 9,900
pounds so I might put some gravel in the back.

So if my tires take up 4 square feet that is 1925.5 pounds/sf or 2475
pounds/sf with a load.

I'm not sure I could build something that could get that kind of wieght.

Course the draw back is that I have to drive up and down the gravel
quite a few times. But the price is right! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

But you have miles of road so I'm not sure how this would work for
you. Need to teach someone to drive? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Hope this helps...
Dan

 

[Soundguy]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Keep in mind that you will not get 'compaction' on gravel. It will bed down, and settle.. but will not compact like limerock / fluffy soil will.

Chris

 

[TonyC]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Okay, you guys have peaked my curiosity. Exactly what is a sheeps foot roller? Is it different than just a plain old roller? Does anyone have any photos of one they could post?

 

[Bird]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Well, I just went to Google and picked the first picture I saw, but there's a pretty good picture at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://sbe.napier.ac.uk/projects/compaction/chapter2d.htm>this site</A>.

 

[Egon]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Dan:
It's not the total weight that counts. Its the pressure per square in. that is the deciding factor. Chances are a little person wearing high spike heels will exert more pressure with the spikes than your truck tires.

Egon

 

[RanchMan]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

<font color=blue>Course the draw back is that I have to drive up and down the gravel
quite a few times. But the price is right! </font color=blue>

Ha! At least you can have your A/C on and tunes a playin' while you "work"! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[TonyC]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Ahhh so that's what they look like. I've seen those on the side of the highway before but never knew what they were called. Somehow I don't think my 'Bota would pull this one!

Thanks for the link, Bird!

 

[dmccarty]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Egon,

High heels may provide a higher pressure be square inch but
I don't think I'm going to get my wife out walking on the
driveway to help compact the material! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Plus it would take her a long time. Hmmm.... Maybe not
a bad idea... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

But the truck does compact the gravel and the price its right.
For that matter my tractor compacts the soil around the place as
well. Which is not a good thing. While neither is going to
be acceptable to get a 90+ compaction rate it might work for
RanchMan's problem.

Now, I happen to know where a sheep foot has been sitting
for a good long while. If only I had a way to haul it and pull
it! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later...
Dan

 

[Egon]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Dan:
I'd use the truck for the packing too.
Those sheeps foot packers are usually filled with water for weight so they may not be as heavy as they look and if you vary the amount of water in them it could make it feasable to pull with something a little smaller.

Egon

 

[Soundguy]

Re: Home-made Sheep\'s Foot Roller Ideas?

Well.. no ac.. but I do have an am/fm fender mount radio on my tractor... does this count?

soundguy